Isa Arfen (Q4805)
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Isa Arfen is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Isa Arfen |
Isa Arfen is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Isa Arfen designer Serafina Sama was in a nostalgic mood this season. She mined childhood memories of summers spent on the Adriatic coast in Italy for inspiration, hence the photo prints of vintage postcards sent from Marina di Ravenna—all sourced on eBay—that were featured on a swishy box-pleated skirt, pajama-style shirt, and thigh-skimming micromini. That charming scenery was a fitting backdrop for a collection full of breezy, mood-brightening pieces. Sama usually manages to balance functionality with a sense of fun, and her latest offering was a good example of that. There was certainly nothing precious about the drawstring asymmetric circle skirts cut from featherlight, crushable tech fabrics. You could throw them in a carry-on without any fuss. Sama’s signature high-waisted pants made an appearance, too, this time spun from a linen cotton blend and printed with vertical deck chair stripes that lent a flattering line.After the slightly corseted silhouettes of last season, Sama experimented with more gentle nip-waisted shapes for Spring. The color-block parachute-style sundresses struck a nice balance between ladylike and laid-back. Her popular off-the-shoulder tops were replaced by puff-sleeved button-up tops of a vaguely 1980s bent that felt fresh without straying too far from the label’s established whimsical stomping grounds.Though she’s Italian by birth, Sama went to school in London, a world apart from the picturesque, sun-soaked scene she conjured for Spring. Still, given the record high temperatures (global warming at its realest!) seen in the U.K. these past few months, suddenly the idea of a high summer wardrobe seems much more wide-reaching. Whether she’s designing clothes for work or play, Sama is clearly in her comfort zone here.
27 September 2018
Serafina Sama took her Isa Arfen label to the runway for the first time today. Her presentations have always been charming affairs, and she brought a joyous energy to the show with a steel-pan ensemble that opened with a rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The designer’s studio is skipping distance from Portobello Road in West London, a longstanding mecca for boho types. Walking through the market stalls in the neighborhood has become a Friday morning ritual. And though the cool kids tend to hang on the east side of town, there’s still plenty of people-watching to be done here.Sama used global flea market and swap meet culture as a springboard for her new collection, starting with Joel D. Levinson’s photographs of the California scene of the 1970s. Sama tends toward romantic references, though this season there was a peppy ’80s energy about the clothes, and her velvet cocktail dress and metallic taffeta trimmings had a nice touch of Lady Di airs and graces. Indeed, many of the clothes came laden with punchy English eccentricities—think plaid blouses with balloon sleeves and pinafore dresses patchworked with tartan.Isa Arfen is well known for going-out tops, and Sama has managed to bring newness to the idea of off-the-shoulder dressing season after season. She breathed new life into the look again, taking a slightly off-kilter approach to bustiers that were cut on an asymmetrical line. The strapless velvet bodice that was exploding with black bows was also a standout and looked especially fresh paired with jeans, a first for the designer. The new Isa Arfen denim offering is a natural evolution for the brand—the perfect complement to her dressier fare—and came with all the quirky, personal details you might expect: velvet ribbon belts, plaid knee pads, for example. Sama was wearing a pair of them when she walked out to take her closing bow. “The thing is, I just live in jeans and tees,” said the designer backstage. “I’ve been looking forward to making them for a long time.” Fashion-forward denim heads should be excited, too.
21 February 2018
Serafina Sama made her first trip to Japan this year—her first trip in body, at any rate. Like a lot of us, Sama has spent a good chunk of her life carting around a collection of souvenirs from headspace visits to Japan—sketch versions of anime, Kabuki theater, samurais, pagodas, et cetera. And for her latest Isa Arfen collection, Sama was likably liberal in the use she made of such cultural flotsam, riffing on the stereotypical in order to nudge herself toward the essential. What Sama discovered in Japan, it seems, was calm. And for all its flourishes, this collection exuded just that.The strongest looks here reveled in a sense of placidity. Sometimes it was found in simple looks, like a lank lacquered cotton coat with broad lapels or muslin judo pants obi-belted at the waist. Sometimes Sama conjured the tone through her Zen florals—a graphic magnolia pattern found in diaphanous skirts and slip dresses, deployed most artfully in a trim silk suit with a robe-tied jacket. You got the feeling that Sama was trying to find a way to work in an uncharacteristically loose way, freeing up her silhouettes without defaulting to minimalism; in consequence, many of her looks here mixed slackness in the cut with frothiness in the details. Sometimes that worked like a charm, as in a wrapped blouse with a ruffled collar and cuff, a suspended tunic top in pink with a ruched bust, or a lilac-color tank dress with a simple waterfall flounce. Elsewhere, you got the impression that Sama had talked herself into keeping a garment a little earthy and undefined when her instincts were probably telling her to apply a bit more rigor. To wit, the dresses and blouses crisscrossed over the bodice. This was an exploratory collection, in other words, with Sama trying out a new mood for her brand—relaxing the Isa Arfen idiom, without entirely letting go.
17 September 2017
Yesterday, Isa Arfen’s collection was kind of all over the place. To some extent, this was by design: Serafina Sama was going for a carnival-esque vibe this season, and so she worked toward the askew and the scattershot. Her anti-coherent approach had, well, mixed results. There was a solid number of individually appealing looks—the most punchy and unexpected, a satin group printed with a surreally magnified image of a Marcela Gutiérrez illustration of a manicured hand holding a toppling cocktail glass—and, on close inspection, many of the items boasted Sama’s signature eccentric charm. But overall, there was a sense of overload.As well as the Gutiérrez illustration, there were other nice Dada touches here. Sama put a new emphasis on knits this time out, and alongside some simple cropped felted wool sweaters, she turned out cashmere pullovers with four sleeves (the extraneous two meant to be tied around the neck). A blazer with a bit of dotted tulle exploding from the hem, and sweet blouses and minidresses with one long sleeve and one scarf-tied shoulder had a similar chimerical effect. Meanwhile, the collection’s painted Pierrot diamond prints and exaggerated harlequin collars drove home Sama’s carnival theme.To be clear: Carnival-esque did not, in this collection, equate to playful. For all the pop of the colorful Pierrot diamonds, there was a reflective tone to this lineup, one that more or less mirrored the Fellini films that had inspired Sama’s theme in the first place. And many other looks were decidedly subdued in tone, like the paper bag–waist denim trousers in a utilitarian clay color and the cotton velvet suiting in a tonal check. Sama’s outerwear, too, had a certain melancholy: For her trademark teddy bear coats, she eschewed the bright colors and wild textures she’s gone for in the past and went for plain-Jane brown. This was a collection torn between the desire to be invisible and the desire to stand out.
23 February 2017
We’re in a moment where everything feels political. Even when a designer isn’t consciously choosing to make a statement in her collection, there’s a certain valence to whatever it is she has elected to focus on and what she’s decided to exclude. Am I interested in this or in that? Serafina Sama’s last couple ofIsa Arfencollections have had a real party vibe—posh bird out on the town in London in the mod era or the clubby 1980s. This season, Sama dispensed with dance-floor decadence and turned her attention to Africa. It wasn’t a party, but it was a celebration.The graphic body paint of Omo Valley tribes was one key reference for Sama; the mid-century studio portraits taken by Malian photographer Seydou Keïta were another. Sama didn’t have to strain to incorporate these influences into her clothes—they made a rather neat fit, in fact, with the Isa Arfen signature mix of polished yet relaxed separates, nonchalant party frocks, and slouchy trenchcoats. Much of the charm of an Isa Arfen collection is to be found in the fabrications; this time out, Sama executed most of her looks in natural textiles, emphasizing cotton and linen in particular. The earthiness of the materials was offset by the lineup’s playful qualities—the flirty, off-the-shoulder tops and dresses; the winks of pink and peach amid the neutrals and savanna tones; the bit of feather embellishment peeking out from the shoulder of a long ultra-blouson shirt or from the hem of a pair of striped linen trousers. (Cleverly, the feathers could button on or off—a boon in terms of both style versatility and washing.)Look back at Keïta’s gorgeous photos and you’ll see the women of Bamako mixing the fashions of mid-century Europe with their traditional aesthetics; as Sama drew from the Keïta reference, she paid joyful homage to those women’s borrowings from the West. On a more meta level, you might say that Sama—unconsciously, it must be said—feted the notion that global cultures have become so intertwined, and so mutually reliant on one another for ideas, that the task of asserting what belongs to whom, and who belongs where, is boring and pointless. Political? Uh, yeah.
22 September 2016
Fashion cycles through retro references so often, and at such a fast pace these days, it’s really getting to be a challenge for a designer to make a flashback theme look fresh. Kudos, then, toIsa Arfendesigner Serafina Sama, who found something new to say about Space Age aesthetics this season. Riffing off William Claxton’s iconic mid-1960s snaps of Gernreich-clad Peggy Moffitt, Sama imported a few elements of the era’s look into her own Isa Arfen idiom; the inspiration made for a nice fit, inasmuch as Sama is nearly as playful a designer as Rudi Gernreich, albeit in much quieter, more seemly ways.A few ideas stood out. One of these was the chain halter attached to high-waist pants and mini and pencil skirts, which completely changed the tone of these familiar silhouettes. By analogy, the chain was an exclamation point: “Yes.” became “Yes!” Sama’s other, even better good idea was to reinterpret that signature ’60s A-line shape by spiral-cutting silk shantung and layering it, wavelike, to make unfussy eveningwear. Other strong pieces here expanded on that sense of ease, notably the drop-shoulder shirting, foolproof houndstooth jumpsuits with crystal-studded zips, and deadpan trousers and button-downs given a jolt via metallic silk and lace. All in all, the collection was more Isa Arfen–y than it was Space Age ’60s-ish, which was why it worked. If you’re a designer taking a whack at something vintage, the best policy is: Never borrow; always steal.
9 June 2016
By the middle of day two ofLondon Fashion Week, it was becoming pretty clear: The designers have had it with the ’90s. We probably have J.W.Anderson to thank for that—Jonathan Anderson’s show last season featuring mutton sleeves and Haring-esque prints opened the door for other designers to take a whack at the ’80s aesthetic. Saturday afternoon’sIsa Arfenpresentation cemented the trend. Serafina Sama is a ’90s kid, and her collections have always referenced looks from that era. Not so here, as Sama, who is based in London, made her LFW debut. This Isa Arfen outing was a paean to the Blitz Kids, those New Romantics making the scene at Covent Garden’s legendary Blitz club in the early ’80s.Sama was clearly having fun with her source material, and her collection nicely captured the Blitz scenesters’ abandon and decadence. There were many winning pieces. That said, you could sense the effort it took for Sama to switch up her vernacular. Some of these garments came across as experiments. But when the designer hit her stride, she nailed it—to wit, her outstanding velvet puffer jackets, velvet-denim pencil skirts and jeans, handkerchief-collar blouses, and cloudy skirts and tops in flocked tulle. As a rule, Sama did well when she found ways to measure and punctuate those big ’80s volumes and when she jettisoned volume entirely and worked within a trim line. Her deftness with materials was also, as ever, a strength. The embossed velvet coats with black bow attachments, for instance, exercised a deep allure thanks to the distinctive richness of the fabrication. All in all, this collection was a mixed bag. But it was good to see Sama stretching out of the Isa Arfen comfort zone.
21 February 2016
Isa Arfencollections never lack for charm. This season, though, designerSerafina Samalaid it on even thicker than usual. Taking her cues from vintage photos of Balinese women, ’70s-era exoticism, and rave culture in the ’90s, Sama conjured a rather ladylike trip to the tropics—one of the acid variety, perhaps.Sama wasn’t particularly literal with her references. The sarong-style wrapping and tops, skirts, and dresses layered with ruffles were one type of nod to Indonesia; the collection’s copious black-and-white check, it turned out, was another. (Apparently checked textiles are popular in Bali; who knew?) The ’70s homage was more abstract, reflected in the airy, hothouse-appropriate shapes of button-downs, coats, and jackets, and in the emphasis on olive drab in the palette. Sama’s decision to steer away from styles plainly associated with the ’70s was canny—there have been umpteen versions of the safari jacket since that legendary collection byYSL, but none like Sama’s, which came A-line shaped and embellished with graphic grosgrain appliqué. Nor were there any flares here, or, for that matter, any Isa Arfen–signature culottes. Sama’s trouser message this season was crystal clear: capris, capris, capris.Rave culture, meanwhile, was the most abstracted reference of all. Mainly, it contributed to the mix of, as Sama put it, “poisonous” colors in stripes and a silk-screened tropical floral print. So far, so charming, but the collection’s real grace notes were to be found in its fabrications, an Isa Arfen specialty. The PVC-coated linen of a printed kimono coat was one standout; another was the crispy cotton blend of the checks. Sama also made a concerted effort to use materials that looked crushed or crumpled, as though they’d been packed into a suitcase. That choice helped to give this rather dressy collection its atmosphere of informality. Ditto the way Sama layered her ruffles all askew. Ditto, too, the fact that this collection, as a whole, came off deeply impractical. Individual pieces could easily be worked into a woman’s everyday wardrobe, but they seemed aimed more at the woman for whom every day is an adventure. A charmed life, to be sure.
13 September 2015
Isa Arfen's Serafina Sama went absolutely old school for Resort. The collection, as she described it, was about "glamorous ladies going on holiday," ladies like her aunts—one dead keen on folkloric getups, the other always in vintage YSL. Slightly eccentric, in other words, but delighting in dressing.Sama imagined the Caribbean as their destination. Maybe it was that notion stirred in with the folklore and the YSL that gave her collection a distinctly Creole tang. If the outfits in delicious floral shades—daffodil, fuchsia, geranium—summoned up the spirit of Loulou de la Falaise in her Yves-ning finery, their intensely toned off-the-shoulder tops and poufy peplumed skirts were just as much of the islands. And Sama cut them from cotton poplin and cotton silk faille (once, she'd have used shantung), so they were glamorousandcasual. "Nothing too precious or intimidating," she said. There were wrap skirts patchworked from vichy check; full, pleated shorts that knotted at the waist; and the relaxed trenchcoat, high-waist pants, and culottes that are this designer's signature pieces. Sometimes the mood was Doris Day as much as Loulou, Lacroix as much as YSL, but that only accentuated the positive.
5 June 2015
Serafina Sama began designing this collection with Japan in mind, knowing that she would be making her first visit once production was already under way. Accordingly, some of the referencing—including the black-and-white counterculture photography of Watanabe Katsumi—would have begun as an idealized vision, only to be followed up with actual experience. Compared to her previous outing, this one showed improved coherence by returning to her signature washed poplin, plus summery plaid, to reinforce vaguely punk feminine looks. The trench at the start of the lookbook, with its pleated back and belt reconceived as removable bondage-style straps, would have served her well in Japan, for instance, and many of the flatter dresses and cropped pants—including her foray into denim—seemed conducive to travel. On a phone call from London, the designer reiterated that she is often guided by contrast; and the burgundy PVC pants with an inner white poplin ruffle waistband—especially as paired with the striped twinset—proved neatly balanced (needless to say, the black fabric version will get far more wear). She described the shirting studded like bra tops and necklaces as “decadent, but also relaxed—not pretentious.” Wear one and expect people to ask where they can get their own.With assistance from her frequent collaborator, artist Helen Bullock, Sama treated cherry blossoms without the preciousness that the flowers usually evoke, instead juxtaposing the graphic branches with sporadic stamped polka dots à la Yayoi Kusama. The asymmetries and lightly conceptual volumes recalled ’80s Japanese designers without trying to be avant-garde. But the hair in these images took the theme to the extreme. Let’s chalk it up to Sama’s animated personality. She didn’t emblazon T-shirts withIsa Arfunfor nothing.
23 June 2017
A true child of the '90s, Isa Arfen designer Serafina Sama likes to break the rhythm of an haute-bourgeois look with a touch of unkempt-ness: Her looks are always polished, but they also seem a little offhand. Her latest collection really made you appreciate the degree to which she has defined her aesthetic.Certain elements have been present through all her outings since the label's launch: a keen sense of fabrication; a love for a big, enveloping piece of outerwear; a preference for palettes and proportions that are a little eccentric; a taste for unexpected embellishment. All those elements were very much in play this time out, and were all the more notable for the manner in which Sama evolved them to meet a new, more tailored silhouette.Sama's starting point this season was the work of Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri, who shot in and around the designer's native Ravenna in the 1970s. The muted palette was taken from his photos of deserted beaches, abandoned playgrounds, and so on. The '70s vibe was also reflected in items such as the wide-wale corduroy trench with daggered lapels and the furry coat nipped at the waist. Both of those outerwear pieces underlined Sama's emphasis here on fitted, precise shapes.But this was no straight '70s retro collection—rather, it was '70s retro through the prism of the '90s. Loose wool check button-downs were a grungy touch; bias-cut silk dresses had a bit of that classic Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti thing going on. Meanwhile, the ghost of mid-'90s Prada hovered—specifically in materials like the sparkly wool Lurex that Sama used here and there, and in dissonant color pairings such as lime green and chocolate brown. But more generally Miuccia felt present in the collection's aura of upscale, well-reared quirk. Still, Sama made the references her own, and her most clever trick was to introduce a little dishevelment into her clothes—for example, crystal embroidered tops with an unraveled effect were cut with one shoulder hanging askew.There were a lot of ideas in play here, and not every one worked; previous Isa Arfen collections have been tighter. But this one had terrific appeal, and it marked Sama's most ambitious effort yet to expand her brand vocabulary. Her signatures are strong enough—she's got room to play and grow.
14 February 2015
Isa Arfen designer Serafina Sama decamped from London to Milk Studios for her Spring 2015 presentation, and this collection was a great choice for her New York coming-out party. Sama's aim, with this outing, was to bring Palm Springs holiday vibes back to the city, and she executed that theme with just the right mix of pop and urbanity. This was Sama's most straightforwardly charming collection yet, full of no-brainer looks like a zip-front A-line skirt, sleeveless silk button-downs, and, for just a touch of drama, a raw linen cape. A palette straight out of Hockney added to the clothes' candy-store appeal.Sama seems a natural fit for the New York calendar, inasmuch as she has a terrific command of the American sportswear vernacular. She also takes justifiable pride in making wearable clothes. But the ladyisfrom Italy originally, and she has imbibed English fashion eccentricity: The Isa Arfen secret sauce is the way Sama distills and domesticates the outré. To wit, that choice A-line skirt also came in a raffia-fringed version, and otherwise standard-issue tanks had giant pouf sleeves hanging off either shoulder. Another example: this season's eye-catching print, painted by artist Marcela Gutiérrez and hand-screened onto the clothes. The sense of hand was palpable, and surprising. Sama's clothes are full of those kinds of details, and they make a garment stick in the mind. She should find a ready audience here.
7 September 2014
It's a funny thing about references: Some designers cite a familiar muse and you roll your eyes; others say her name and you think,Oh, yes, that makes total sense.Such was the case this season with Serafina Sama, the designer of Isa Arfen. Her inspiration was Tina Chow, and Chow's sensibility is such a good fit for Isa Arfen, maybe she should just be a continual influence. Refined yet streetwise, a little eccentric, too. Check, check, check. If Chow was the spirit informing this collection, which was the most complete and cohesive expression of the Isa Arfen woman yet, its conceptual girding was the idea of the dynamic life of clothes, the way women wrap a jacket around themselves for warmth, or how a shoulder slips on a top or a dress. There was something nicely humane and well-observed about that, but Sama should have treated the theme with more conviction—a heavily embellished tunic dress, for instance, was cut to sit straight, but presented awry. That kind of thing should be incorporated into the pattern, really. And there were places here where it was—a pair of wrapped tops, for instance, got the slipped-shoulder look exactly. Sama's not really a conceptual designer, though. She makes clothes for living in, not thinking about. And this time out, there was a real sense of elevation and polish, with attention paid to subtleties like the seam detailing of a red wrap coat. Sama's also very good with her fabrics—there were about six different kinds of silk in the range of blouses here, alone—and she showed her knack for them again as she emphasized easy-to-wear jerseys and expanded into knits. This season, her sweaters were a velvety chenille, very nice. The main quibble, really, is to do with Sama's silhouettes: She needs a few fresher ones to work in with her signature pencil pants and culottes. All will be well if she just keeps asking herself,What would Tina do?
9 March 2014
The first two Isa Arfen collections were marked by their matter-of-factness. Designer Serafina Sama plainly had a fanciful streak, but she indulged it sparingly. This season, however, Sama gave fancy a wide berth: One of her inspirations this time out was Paolo Roversi's photos of Romeo Gigli's late-eighties oeuvre, and she distilled that into clothes that had a dreamy quality, like the white bias-cut dresses with asymmetrical seams, or the voluminous full skirt and coat done in organza cloque the color of lemon sorbet. Sama also pushed the collection in a rather eccentric direction by collaborating with the illustrator Marcela Gutiérrez, who contributed the giant painted eye screen-printed onto a few garments; the volume on the signature Isa Arfen embellishment was turned way up as well, with drops of multicolored crystal. All of this integrated surprisingly well with the more straightforward looks, like the anoraks in duchesse satin and the striped pieces made from strips of cotton and organza. That said, this collection didn't have quite the force of the previous two—Sama's effort to expand her brand's vocabulary was praiseworthy, although it entailed a slight loss of focus. But this designer is one with an instinct for simplicity, and, ultimately, she called on it this season to keep the flourishes in check.
7 October 2013
The London label Isa Arfen launched last season with a well-formed point of view. Designer Serafina Sama's clothes were relatable and sophisticated, with a winning touch of the eccentric; Sama has a nuanced sense of color and material, and an intriguing way of layering strong silhouettes. But the really refreshing thing about that debut collection was that it was essentially gimmick-free. This time out, Sama repeated herself—a smart strategy for a new designer. Her latest collection reiterated several key shapes, such as long culottes, slouchy trenchcoats, and twisted crop tops, and elaborated other established themes in new, winter-friendly ways. A double-breasted alpaca coat, for example, echoed the slouchy cut of the trench; her signature trim pants were done in wool and a vinyl-like technical silk. There were some new ideas, too: This collection emphasized a long, lean silhouette, with pencil skirts and narrow shifts, and Sama was up to something interesting with her "denim" looks made of wool. She also made a couple of fantastic coats from colorful Steiff teddy-bear fur. At first, it was hard to see the news in this collection, because all of the development was so organic. That's the mark of a designer who knows what she's about.
10 March 2013